Shark Mistakenly Bites Researcher

On the evening of Friday 6^th February at the Nassau Grouper Spawning Aggregation site in Little Cayman, a researcher was bitten by a juvenile tiger shark, approximately 7ft long and 3 years old. The researcher, who is a member of the Department of Environment’s partner research team, was flown to George Town hospital, treated for the injury and is recovering well.

DoE and partner researchers have been conducting annual surveys in Little Cayman for 25 years, logging thousands of dives without any such occurrence. The team includes both fish and shark scientists who are trained professionals who managed the situation efficiently and safely.

While this incident was not expected, it is natural for sharks to be attracted to the activity of an aggregation site, and a young shark is less likely to have experience with groupers and divers. Coupled with the poor visibility of the site, the young shark mistakenly bit the diver but since sharks do not consider humans food, it fled and did not pursue.

Shark bites are an extremely rare occurrence, particularly in Cayman waters. The risk of a shark mistaking a diver, swimmer or snorkeler as food is highly unlikely.

We are grateful to the amazing team of DoE research staff, HSA, the Little Cayman Fire department, and RCIPS who all did an incredible job of responding to this unexpected event ensuring the impact on the diver could be minimized. The DoE is proud of the professional response by staff and wishes the researcher a fast and full recovery.